Amedeo Modigliani
Blue Caryatid c.1912 - recto
Blue crayon, 17 ¼ x 10 ½ inches; 43.8 x 26.6 cms
Reproduced: The Unknown Modigliani by Noël Alexandre, Mercatorfonds, 1993.
Recto - Page 373, No. 358 [full page].
Provenance: Dr Paul Alexandre, to whom it was given by Modigliani.
By descent to the present owner.
Exhibited: Drawings from The Collection of Paul Alexandre at:
Venice, Palazzo Grassi, September 1993 - January 1994.
Tokyo, The Ueno Royal Musuem, October - December 1994.
Montréal, The Museum of Fine Art, February - April 1996.
Rouen, Musée des Beaux Arts, July - October 1996.
Modigliani, Beyond The Myth May 2004 - May 2005 at:
The Jewish Museum, New York.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
The Phillips Collection, Washington.
St Tropez, Musée L’Annonciade, Modigliani, July – 18th October 2010.
Of the 448 drawings reproduced in The Unknown Modigliani, only eight female nudes are drawn in blue crayon. Blue Caryatid with its pure and delicate line is one of the most beautiful.
The drawing relates to Modigliani’s massive and lyrical Caryatid sculpture above. And in its sensuality, rounded form and physiognomy, it anticipates later works, among them the 1917 Nude reproduced below.
